Category Archives: Everything Else

Some Inspiration For Your Weekend Adventures

It’s Friday. It’s summertime. It’s time to plan some awesome bike adventures. These three videos showcase incredible trips that kickstart wanderlust and make me want to get out and explore.

The Road from Karakol is about professional alpine climber Kyle Dempster’s solo biking and climbing tour through Kyrgyzstan. He spent two months biking (and sometimes dragging, pushing or carrying his bike) 1200km on remote roads to climb Kyrgyzstan’s massive peaks. There were times when he didn’t see another human for a week straight.

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Getting Away With Weeknight Bike Camping

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There is an undeniable romance to bike camping. Escaping the everyday routine under your own power, sleeping outside, the sense of adventure; even the easiest S24Os are thrilling. I’ve experienced this romance on plenty of weekends and holidays, but it had long been my fantasy to sneak in a work-night bike camping trip.

Thanks to a recent spate of unseasonably dry and sunny weather in Seattle and two gung-ho coworkers of mine, I was able to make fantasy reality.

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Building Bikes and Documenting Personal Struggles

I’ve been a fan of Ezra Caldwell’s work for about five years. The bikes he builds as Fast Boy Cycles are beautiful and always meticulously documented with well made photographs. When he was diagnosed with cancer in 2008, Ezra turned outward and used his blog to share his wide-ranging experiences with treatment, his continued work as a bike builder and more. The latest short documentary from the Made by Hand series is about Ezra. In it he talks about his origins as a builder and his struggles with cancer with the same sincerity and openness that make his writing so powerful. It is beautifully shot and produced and well worth a watch.

Made by Hand / No 5 The Bike Maker from Made by Hand on Vimeo.

Photos from the Tour of Qatar Stage 6

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Photo by Jeremy Cohen

My parents recently moved to Doha, Qatar. They happened to arrive just before the start of the Tour of Qatar and were able to catch the final stage of the race this morning. Stage 6 began a little over 100 km outside of Doha and ended with a few laps around the Corniche, a waterfront promenade in the capital city. All photos by Jeremy Cohen. Enjoy.

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Backdrop for the finish. Photo by Jeremy Cohen.

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Photo by Jeremy Cohen.

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The Top Stories of 2012

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If the Internet (or perhaps all of human history) has taught us anything, it’s that trends are very important to follow. And there is no more prevalent year-end trend than Top 10 lists. Newspapers give you their most popular stories of the year. Buzzfeed gives you the 40 most influential corgis of 2012 (it was probably difficult to narrow it to 10 influential pups).  And on the final day of 2012, The Bicycle Story gives you its top 10 most read posts of 2012.

The Most Popular Stories of 2012

1) Jacquie Phelan: The Godmother of Women’s Mountain Biking: Given her important role in both mountain bike history and introducing women to mountain biking, it is unsurprising that Jacquie tops the list. If you read just one interview from these 10, make it this one.

2) Tom Hopper: Rapha-Focus’ Master Mechanic: Tom is personal mechanic to America’s best cyclocross racer. Learn about his road to the professional pits and what it takes to succeed at the highest level of the job.

3) Presidents on Bicycles: A collection of photos from Presidents Day 2012 highlighting the long history of our Commanders in Chief riding (or at least posing) on bikes!

4) Ted King: Racing with the PROs, Advocating for Bikes: Ted King is an international pro tour domestique with the Liquigas-Cannondale squad. In addition to being one of the fastest American racers, he’s a proud advocate for cycling and the environment.

5) Steve Garro: Arizona’s Mountain Biking, Trouble Making, Frame Building Legend: Steve is another important figure in mountain bike history. The insightful interview covers the days of riding with his mountain bike crew The Mutants, his frame building, the accident that nearly took his life, and a whole lot more.

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